データ中継衛星打ち上げ成功　Ｈ２Ａ・４３号機で―三菱重

　三菱重工業は２９日午後４時２５分、「光データ中継衛星」を、鹿児島県・種子島宇宙センターからＨ２Ａロケット４３号機で打ち上げた。約３０分後、所定の軌道に投入され、打ち上げは成功した。
　同衛星は、宇宙航空研究開発機構（ＪＡＸＡ）が開発を進める衛星同士の高速通信技術を実証する。静止軌道を周回し、高度数百キロに位置する地球観測衛星からのデータをレーザー光を使った高速通信で受け取り、地上局へ転送する。常に日本の上空にあるため、データを地上に送る時間を増やすことができる。（2020/11/29-18:03）

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. successfully launched an optical data relay satellite on an H-2A rocket on Sunday.
   The H-2A Launch Vehicle No. 43 blasted off from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Tanegashima Space Center in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima at 4:25 p.m. (7:25 a.m. GMT). The satellite subsequently entered the planned orbit.
   The data relay satellite will demonstrate high-speed intersatellite communication technologies being developed by JAXA.
   Placed in stationary orbit, the satellite will use optical laser-based high-speed communication technologies to receive data from an earth observation satellite at an altitude of hundreds of kilometers and transfer the received data to a station on Earth. As the satellite will constantly be above Japan, it can send data to the station in the country for a longer time.
   The satellite launched this time is also equipped with a data relay devise for information-gathering satellite operated by of the Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center of the Japanese government.